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Thursday, BCE announced it had signed up 157,000 new wireless customers to long-term contracts, while profits rose to $439 million from $350 million a year ago.

That the mobile market is driving earnings for both companies comes as no surprise to research analyst Maher Yaghi of Desjardins Securities. Yaghi estimates the number of wireless phones in Canada at 25 million, compared to roughly 17.5 million “wire lines.” Excluding 4 million wire lines provided by cable companies — such as Rogers Home Phone — that means there are just 13.5 million old-fashioned land lines left in the country, Yaghi says.

“Even 10 years ago, the number of wireless subscribers would have been negligible compared to the number of wire line subscribers,” said Yaghi. Just five years ago, there were still more wire lines (18.5 million) than wireless (13.5 million).

Land lines are still a profitable business, but one which he expects to keep shrinking.

“The number of wireless subscribers is growing by about eight per cent per year, while the number of wire line subscribers is shrinking by about five per cent,” said Yaghi.

Yaghi says the two companies have both seen the wireless market accounting for a bigger and bigger share of their profits; in BCE’s case, wireless accounts for roughly 30 per cent of net earnings, while in Telus’ case, wireless accounts for roughly 59 per cent.

Part of the shift away from land lines is a generational one, says Queen’s University mass communications professor and digital culture guru Sidneyeve Matrix. People who have never known a life without cellphones don’t quite understand the attraction of land lines, let alone seeing them as a necessity, says Matrix.

“Anyone under 20 just doesn’t see the point in having a land line at home,” said Matrix. “Land lines will be a niche product quicker than anyone realizes.”

The last holdout of that niche will likely be in major corporations, both because of cost and cultural tradition. But even that is starting to change, Matrix says.

“There may be a cultural perception that you need a central phone line for your business, but I think most people are realizing that doesn’t necessarily need to be a phone sitting on someone’s desk. It could be routed to a call centre overseas, or even forwarded to someone’s BlackBerry,” he said.

Still, it will be a long time before land lines vanish completely, predicts Yaghi.

“There are still some things where land lines are used a lot, like security systems, or fire alarm systems. Land lines aren’t going to disappear.”

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